Number of Men

Historians sometimes disagree on how many men Clark took with him from Kaskaskia on his march towards Fort Sackville. 

How many men does Clark say that he took? How many men went on the expedition according to Bowman? Record your answers.

Now compare what you found with this example.

What did we find? 

Both reported a number of one hundred and seventy men. Bowman, though is a little more specific than Clark. Let’s take a closer look at what Bowman said.

From earlier in Clark’s Memoir, we learn that Clark had previously recruited French inhabitants from Kaskaskia’s militia to help his men take over the nearby French village of Cahokia. 

Is it possible that some of these same men accompanied Clark on his expedition to Fort Sackville? Could these be the “volunteers under the command of Captain Francis Charleville” that Bowman writes of?